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M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 • Volume 51, Number 2
Presorted Standard
US Postage Paid
Permit #32
ECRWSS
Yankton, SD
Postal Patron Local
319 Walnut Street, Yankton, SD 57078 • 605-665-5884 • Fax 605-665-0288
A ‘Window’ into the Future of Health Care
Northern Lights
Yankton’s outstanding health
care community received a big
boost this winter as Avera Sacred
Heart’s three-story Northern
Lights addition opened in midDecember.
work remains to be completed,
all departments within the new
facility have been operational
since mid-December.
When Avera Sacred Heart’s
current hospital was built more
than 30 years ago, the planning
process at that time included
discussion of building a new
kitchen area. However, the
decision was ultimately made
to keep food preparation in the
Benedictine Center, located to
the south of the hospital, because
Sister James Nursing Home was
located in that facility, as well.
During the intervening years,
the need to update the hospital’s
kitchen was not forgotten.
“But it always took second
place to the more clinical and
technological projects,” said
Pam Rezac, the president and
CEO of ASHH. “The Sisters
provide for that basic hospitality
that our patients and staff
deserve. Further impetus to do
it was the fact that we need to
replace the laboratory and build
a new pharmacy. It became a
multifaceted project.”
That decision led to what
“Northern Lights” project. In
addition to a new kitchen, the
more than $17 million expansion
includes the brand new Northern
Lights Café and gourmet coffee
kiosk, pharmacy, laboratory,
physician amenities, sleep lab,
environmental services space
and meeting areas, among other
things.
Avera Sacred Heart
administration, board members,
medical staff members and
representatives from our
Sponsors – the Benedictine and
Presentation Sisters – broke
ground for the new facility in
July 2012.
Located on the northwest
corner of the existing hospital,
the facility is built with an almost
entire glass front facing north
and along the “grand staircase”
leading from the completely
renovated hospital lobby up to
the Northern Lights Café.
“It is going to change the entire
north face of the hospital,” Rezac
stated at the groundbreaking.
Numerous focus groups
provided input on what they
wanted to see in the new facility.
These groups included patients,
families, staff and physicians.
A project of this magnitude
also took several years of
planning spanning the course
of several board members and
administration during the years,
according to board chair Rob
Stephenson. “These projects
aren’t possible without years
of preparation, he stated during
the ribbon-cutting ceremony
in December. “It has required
meticulous planning for years
for something like this to be
possible. The Sisters, current
and past board members and
administrations had the vision
to ensure that Yankton remains
a regional health care center,
as opposed to a community
hospital.
impact on the economy of
Yankton and the surrounding
region,” he said. “Avera is
Yankton’s largest employer, the
health care we have in Yankton
is basically unprecedented in a
community this size and it draws
people from over 15 counties
in South Dakota and Nebraska.
The economic impact cannot be
overstated.”
Vice President of Professional
and Regional Services Doug
Ekeren had originally expected
a 24-month window for
completion of the project, but
a mild 2012/13 winter and dry
summer expedited things and
months ahead of the original
schedule.
“We really wanted to improve
the hospitality aspect of our
services,” he said. “We have
great people who provide
top notch care, compassion
and customer service. This
enhancement, I believe, is a great
inviting and healing.”
Since the hospital was built in
1980, the Nutrition Services staff
has had to cook patient meals in
the Benedictine Center and then
cart it more than two city blocks
to the hospital to distribute to
patients. That problem has been
eliminated. A special service
elevator now connects the
kitchen directly to patient care
“With this move, we have
with our use of staff and other
resources. We can also make it
a safer work environment for
staff and provide better options
for anyone coming through the
Northern Lights Café. We can
also be more responsive to food
requests from patients because
the kitchen will be in the same
building.”
Two other major components
that have had a domino effect,
include the additions of a new
laboratory and pharmacy on the
level point of view. Once the
pharmacy had been moved, it
allowed the former pharmacy
area to be moved into Avera
Sacred Heart’s Bio-Medical
Engineering department, which
needed to expand. For those
who don’t know, Bio-Medical
Engineers are the people who
make sure all of the medical
technology is running properly.
The lab simply moved across
the lobby to a new home on
community in the
•
•
care management was also
•
The Avera Sacred Heart
Sleep Lab will be moving
from the Benedictine
Center to the main hospital
sometime in February into
newly renovated suites on
•
The Avera Sacred Heart
Lights addition. The move
added approximately 40 percent
more space and created great
discussion about whether
or not to put the lab or the
discussions with physicians,
it was determined that lab
eliminate precious seconds in
Emergency Department, Surgery
and ICU.
The move of the lab also
opened up additional space for
future expansion of Avera Sacred
Heart’s radiology department – a
is growing by leaps and bounds
each year.
Other projects that have been
either directly or indirectly
involved throughout the process
include:
• All out-patient physical,
speech and occupational
therapy services are
The move of the pharmacy to
space is an enhancement from
a patient safety standpoint
and a staff safety and comfort
•
new meeting rooms,
dining facilities and more
computer work stations.
A support area has been
created in anticipation of
future internal medicine
residents.
of the Surgery Center
building. All in-patient
therapies are in their
previous location, but have
had some renovations for
patient and staff comfort
and safety.
New amenities for
physicians, staff and
patient and visitor resource
center will be opened just
south of the main entrance
in the lobby where the gift
shop used to reside.
Rezac said she is excited about
what the addition means to the
hospital and residents in this
region.
“I think the Northern Lights
project overall is already
providing a much more
hospitable environment for
patients, visitors, physicians
and staff,” she said. “The
services provided are more
utilizing technology that has
not been available to us because
of the space shortages in the
pharmacy, the laboratory and
the preparation of food. It also
offers space for facilitating
the teamwork that is going
to be necessary in our new
system of care. We have to be
more focused on a coordinated
delivery system.”
www.AveraSacredHeart.org
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